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Intergenerational Fairness

The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) believes that intergenerational fairness must be a priority for policymakers. There are a whole host of issues where long-term view is essential if we are going to meet today’s needs, without putting younger, or future generations at a disadvantage

Be it the ongoing review of State Pension age, the Work and Pension Select Committee’s recent examination of the pensions ‘Triple Lock’, or think tank The Resolution Foundation’s creation of the Intergenerational Commission, it is clear that much of the policymaking community, particularly in the UK, is beginning to open its eyes to these issues. And many of these issues are central to the work of actuaries.

Over the course of 2017 the IFoA will release a series of bulletins, bringing together academics, think tanks and thought leaders from across financial services and public policy to discuss three core intergenerational issues.

As well as highlighting the role of actuaries in understanding the long-term implications of this policy challenge, we want to present a broad perspective on the issue, and have invited contributions to this bulletin from a range of important voices in the debate.

In this third and final issue,our contributors discuss a range of health issues, including the sustainability of the health system, social care funding, antimicrobial resistance and the impact of the ageing population on health and work.

In this issue, our contributors discuss how the evolution of retirement saving across private and public pensions has contributed towards a potential intergenerational imbalance, and what can be done to make the system more fair and sustainable in the long term.

In this issue, we consider the role of discount rates, financial disclosure and the importance of understanding not just the likely possible outcome, but the worst case scenario when assessing the potential impact of climate change. In particular, this issue addresses the role of long-term institutional investors such as pension funds and life insurance companies.